Land and Environment Court of New South Wales
Established	14 April 1980; 43 years ago (1980-04-14)
Jurisdiction	New South Wales, Australia
Location	Sydney
Authorized by	Parliament of New South Wales via the Land and Environment Court Act 1979 (NSW)
Appeals to	New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal New South Wales Court of Appeal
Appeals from	Local Court of New South Wales (with respect to an environmental offence under the Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001 (NSW))
Website	lec.nsw.gov.au
Chief Judge
Currently	Brian Preston
Since	14 November 2005 (2005-11-14)

The Land and Environment Court of New South Wales is a court within the Australian court hierarchy established pursuant to the Land and Environment Court Act 1979 (NSW) to hear environmental, development, building and planning disputes. The Court’s jurisdiction, confined to the state of New South Wales, Australia, includes merits review, judicial review, civil enforcement, criminal prosecution, criminal appeals and civil claims about planning, environmental, land, mining and other legislation.^[1]

History

The Court was established on 1 April 1980 as the world's first environmental court that was also a superior court of record.^[1]

A Parliamentary review in 2001 noted "It is evident that there is some dissatisfaction within sections of the community about the role and operations of the Court".^[2]

Structure and jurisdiction

The Court is a superior court of record. It consists of a Chief Judge, severals Judges, and Commissioners. The New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal and the New South Wales Court of Appeal, both divisions of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, may hear appeals from the Court, depending on the nature of case. Appellants on constitutional issues may seek special leave for the matter to be heard before the High Court of Australia in certain circumstances.

The Court has appellate jurisdiction over the Local Court of New South Wales with respect to an environmental offence under the Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001 (NSW).^[1]

Current composition

Judges have the same rank, title, status and precedence as the Judges of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Judges preside over all Aboriginal land claims matters, most land tenure and compensation matters, and can hear matters in all other Classes of the Court’s jurisdiction.

The Judges, in order of seniority, are as follows:

Past Judicial officers and decision makers

Past Chief Judges

Former Judges

• The Honourable Justice Terry Sheahan AO
• The Honourable Justice Malcolm Craig
• The Honourable Justice Peter Biscoe
• The Honourable Justice Paul Stein
• The Honourable Justice Neal Bignold
• The Honourable Justice Angus Talbot – 1992 to 2007
• The Honourable Justice David Lloyd
• The Honourable Justice Jayne Jagot